Stampie's Grosh Mahal

Asas_Dad said:

In reply to Kendall Frederick :Wow, Kendall that is a heck of a useful document!  It even addresses Wetlands.

 

I wish I hadn't had to read Nassau County's version in such detail.  :-P  

I didn't find any mention of an ordinance regarding elevation of outbuildings in the Alachua County codes above.  It'd probably be a good thing to call and ask about, though.  

Asas_Dad said:

One thing to consider about the wetlands on your property; when we first bought this parcel it had a  continuously-flowing stream that bisected it, small enough to hop across.  Then about 5 years later the beavers moved in, dammed it up, drowned seven acres of trees and bushes.  I went to the County property appraiser and asked about; he put a grid over  the image, and declared the 7 acres that were flooded to be "wasteland", removed those from my  taxable acreage.    Your county should do the same for you, it's not useable property.  That doesn't, however, remove it from the wetland designation.  That's environmental.

Just curious, does the wet area have a defined inflow and outflow, or is it just a low spot where runoff collects?  Any idea if it's wet year-round, or if it periodically dries up?

The environmental lady already told me that she would help me reduce my taxes because the wetlands took so much of the property.  Best I can tell is the wetlands were created around 2003 by someone clearing that area to build on then never building. You can still see a lot of man made features in the dirt. Usually stays wet a few days to a week after a good rain but that also depends on how rainy it's been in the weeks before. 

In reply to Kendall Frederick :

They're cool with outbuildings being in 100 year flood plain but require flood vents to spec if so. That would be 4800 sq inches of vents. I think I came up with 26 non engineered vents ~12x16 inches. 

Stampie said:

In reply to Kendall Frederick :

They're cool with outbuildings being in 100 year flood plain but require flood vents to spec if so. That would be 4800 sq inches of vents. I think I came up with 26 non engineered vents ~12x16 inches. 

That's good news for your plans!  As far as the flood vents, I have them going in to my shop; I'll take a pic or two next week.  The metal building company has engineered ones and they simplify passing inspection.  I have some in the garage attached to the house as well.  I feel like they're a stupid idea from the get-go.  Trying to ensure that you flood the inside of your building as well as the outside, so your walls don't collapse. 

If you have to put 'em in your shop, you can always close them off after inspection.  

Kendall Frederick said:

If you have to put 'em in your shop, you can always close them off after inspection.  

I have no idea what you're talking about. 

This might sound stupid. But next time it really rains hard it might be worth getting a poncho and just watch what happens in the property. Always super interesting to see the flow and what's going on. You can learn a lot with a thermos of coffee and a afternoon of observation. 

I would put up a few game cams to see what animals are roaming around , 

it might be interesting  there animals call your place "Home" and then when you have stuff there you can aim the cameras to the area where people would enter the property , 

Sounds like a fun adventure

In reply to californiamilleghia :

I do need to. After camping out I found deer tracks right in the middle of my cooking area. Didn't remember seeing them the day before. 

Stampie said:

Ok I'm back in Jacksonville.  First let's update the list of piorities.

1) Ditch culvert.  While it doesn't look bad I actually hit the bumper on the Suburban coming out today.  Might do a temp something or go perm.

2) Better E36 M3 accommodations.  Let's just say it's hard to look at your phone while you hover over a hole.  I'll integrate solar/battery and rain water collection.

3) Internet.  Will probably do a phone and simple solar in a acrylic tube up in a tree.   There was a big difference between 3 feet off the ground and 6 so 30 should be great.

4) Sleep/Storage.  Still thinking about this.

Now that we have our priorities in order let's start with the lowest one because we can't do anything the correct way. Just bought this for $240. It'll become the foundation for the temp sleep/storage shed. 

Stopped by the property today to drop off the trailer and put in a temp ditch thingy. 

They suck. I'd give them a C-. They work but just barely. I'd left some stuff out there last time just to see if they would get messed with. Other than a knocked over pepper grinder everything was exactly the way I left it 

In reply to Stampie :

I totally expected that you were going to park the trailer in the ditch & just drive over it. 

In reply to Stampie :

Your ditch is more like a shallow swale.  Is it any deeper farther along?  You'd have a hard time burying a culvert pipe deep enough in that to be able to drive over it and still have it flow.  You might have to just lay one in the bottom and bring in enough fill to cover it. 

Maybe you could get the county to "pull the ditch up" enough for a culvert pipe?  It is their property, and drainage along county roads is their responsibility.

In reply to Asas_Dad :

Figuring a normal fill above the pipe to the depth of the pipe I'm looking at 3 feet of total height.  I think that won't be a problem just laying the culvert pipe at the current ditch bottom level.  I'm actually spending more time thinking about how to make it look good than I am about how it'll drain.  It'll be fine in the end.  I feel a tractor will be the next step taken.

Norma66-Brent said:

This might sound stupid. But next time it really rains hard it might be worth getting a poncho and just watch what happens in the property. Always super interesting to see the flow and what's going on. You can learn a lot with a thermos of coffee and a afternoon of observation. 

You can observe a lot by just watching.

Yogi Berra

Not sure how it works near Gainesville, but every place I am familiar with in GA, AL, and the FL panhandle requires a permit for a culvert. County engineer determines the size, and the property owner gets to pay for it. 
 

YMMV

Congrats on the buy. I've been in and out of the country a bunch since the fall and missing a bunch of stuff, this included.

In reply to SV reX :   I figured they would be involved in it, have some pertinent codes.  The one under my entry road was already there.  Where I can, I like to meet the county people who will be doing any work on my property at their office, shake their hands, BS a little.  Takes you out of the "anonymous customer" category, shows them you aren't going to be the unreasonable Wrong Prong.

A little hint?  Figure on a piece of pipe at least twice the width of your vehicle, preferably twice longer than that.  Entering with trailered equipment takes a lot of room.   If you have to lengthen it later, you'll be going backwards. 

Not much of an update.  This week I called the county because I could find where to apply for a culvert permit but couldn't find their codes for how it should be built.  Nice lady said to just apply for the permit and they'd come out and tell me what I needed to do.  Ok then.  Really is pleasant to deal with this county.  Everyone I've dealt with has been super friendly.

On Monday I emailed the closing attorney people because the county recorded the sale year as 2020 instead of 2023.  Me thinking not a big deal but hey would be nice to correct it.  They told me to call the county.  Called them and nice lady goes oh yeah I can see the deed and we made a mistake, it'll be corrected by tomorrow.  Next day I look and it's correct but somehow the sale before me dropped off.  Now it kinda looked like I bought it from someone that didn't own it.  Call back and I think we weren't understanding each other.  Ten minutes later the lady calls me and we get on the same page.  She says that she'll correct that and it'll be done by the next day but if not then IT might have to look at it.  I look Thursday morning and now we're missing two previous sales.  We're going backwards here.  Got busy but that evening I check and everything is fixed.  We slight mistake as they have the sale date as March 3 instead of 15.  Good enough not going to mess with it anymore.

Tuesday I dropped the Devin off and while getting some trash out of the ditch a neighbor couple from across the big road walks by.  We talk a little and I offer to walk the property with them.  I showed them the wetland area and glad I did as today I went back.  Before leaving today I decided I wanted to follow the two ditches that seem to not drain and keep standing water in that area.  As I figured out where they head to I notice a tire track at the edge of one of the ditches.  Looked like fresh quad tracks.  I follow it and go through areas that I knew we were in Tuesday and that meant they were new.  They didn't tear it up but if they continued that would make trails in the wetlands that I didn't want.  I decided that I needed to talk to the Mayor.

The Mayor is a guy I met one day while looking at the property.  All business type but nice.  He gave me some background info on the property and told me about the neighborhood.  Every single berking neighbor after that always asked if I had met him yet.  Some referred to him as the Mayor of the neighborhood as he knew everyone and everything there.  So I go a couple of houses down to the Mayor's house.  He's starting a cookout with another neighbor so we start talking.  I said that since he knew everyone could he tell whoever took the quad on the property to please not do it.  Said I didn't want to be an shiny happy person neighbor but they were just making trails where I didn't want them.  Both of them said they saw/heard a quad the other evening.  The Mayor said he didn't know the quad driver as they didn't live on that road but he would keep an eye out.  We bullE36 M3ted a while.  Turns out he's ex Army SF and jumped out of my planes many times.  At one point the other neighbor said that I should set a trap for the quad guy and the Mayor said there was no need as I had already set a trap by telling him.  If I let any of you camp out or anything beware.  If a nice dude that looks like he could kill you ask why you're there just ask him if he's the Mayor and that Stampie said it was ok.

Hopefully I'll have another update Monday.

I didn't get back as soon as I wanted to. We got a tractor to the property this week. I thought about the four wheeler and even though I didn't see any more signs of entry I needed to do something. There was a dead tree that fell near the ditch so we moved parts of it to block the entry/exits. Was cool yesterday when we were there. For room I parked the Suburban and trailer at the road. While we were moving the tree several neighbors stopped by to say hi. I got the feeling that they were glad someone was doing something to the lot. Here's our blocked areas.

The tractor is a game-changer. Like having 3 guys who will come over any time but won't drink all your beer.

In reply to paddygarcia :

It is.  Hey I need to move that.  Ok hook it up to the tractor.  Forgot to add that I found a good Mexican restaurant today.  La Pasadita Mexican at 4126 NW 6th St, Gainesville, FL 32609.  I'll have to go back a few more times and try some other local ones but it passed my first visit.  That with Ward's Supermarket on NE 23rd Ave and we're doing pretty good.  Oh and can't forget Sugar Creek restaurant just a block away from Ward's On NE 23rd Ave.  All have been great.  In looking up Sugar Creek I see what looks like a Cuban restaurant nearby.  I'll have to try it out.

EDIT - Damn it forgot about Satchel's Pizza also on NE 23rd Ave.  Thanks to dyintorace for giving me a heads up on most of these.

In reply to paddygarcia :

The tractor is a game-changer. Like having 3 guys who will come over any time but won't drink all your beer.

Absolutely.  Besides the things you need it for, there are so many tasks that you don't have to have it for but it makes them easier.  I occasionally call the tractor my diesel-powered wheel barrow. Better living through hydraulics!

I think that's a good plan moving the logs/trees into the undesired trails.  When we got our property it was clear that others in the area had been using it as if their family member owned it or it was public land...for years.  It took a couple fences and an awkward conversation or two but it all got sorted out. 

Tip:  It's amazing how effective a cheap roll of high-vis poly rope can be as a deterrent once unrolled and strategically placed ;)

In reply to ClemSparks :

Funny you mention awkward conversation.  So when I walked up to the Mayor's house I saw a real estate agent at the street.  I also saw what I recognized as trained dogs down at the house so I asked the agent if that was the Mayor's house and if he could take me down figuring they knew him.  He's like sure and mentioned that they served together.  I told him that I was exAF and we walked down.  Ended up being me, the Mayor, and the neighbor talking with the realtor kinda standing by the side.  I was talking with the Mayor and he and I understood each other.  I wasn't blaming him or accusing him.  He understood that I was just asking him to look out for me.  The agent kept trying to say "Well he only has these two side by sides and he didn't do it!"   I'm like "I understand and know he didn't."  It took a bit for the agent to stop making it awkward and just let us talk person to person.

As far as the high vis poly rope I have to put in a "safety fence" for construction 75 feet off the wetlands.  Today I cut the drive under that 75 feet.  I'm sure I'll have enough safety fence left over to put some over those areas.

Stampie said:

Forgot to add that I found a good Mexican restaurant today.  La Pasadita Mexican at 4126 NW 6th St, Gainesville, FL 32609. 

The Bad Decision Triangle went there after Brads Challenge Victory.  It was tasty 2.5 years ago.